Inherent Cost

by Alicia Cameron

  The day disappeared rapidly, and Jere allowed himself to fade into the background. It was dark before he gently suggested that they should be leaving; their cover story of making a business arrangement would only allow them to stay for so long.

  “Where are you going?” Aurellia looked offended at the idea of her daughter leaving again.

  “We’re staying with a contact across town,” Jere said vaguely. “It’s safer that way.”

  “Well, surely she could stay here?” Aurellia pressed, glancing hopefully at Jere. “I mean, you could always leave.”

  Jere felt Isis beginning to panic, and he firmly ended the conversation. “Isis stays with me. I have a permit to bring her here on the condition that she is within eyesight at all times. I’m not breaking interstate slave laws, and I’m not drawing attention to the Lighthouse Organization or myself.”

  “I just thought...” Aurellia let her question die. “We’re holding a networking event tomorrow for international job seekers. Would you be able to attend? I know you’re not really looking, but it matches your cover story and it would give us a little more time to spend together. We can always use another guest speaker.”

  Jere wanted to agree, but he could already feel Isis panicking. She stood up stiffly, casting a pleading look at Jere. “You’re right. We should go before it gets too late.”

  “We’ll think about it,” Jere said.

  The goodbyes were hurried and tense. Isis suddenly seemed ready to bolt out the door, despite her parents’ attempt to keep her around as long as possible.

  As happy as Isis had seemed all day, she escalated into full-blown panic as they walked back to the host’s house. Jere could see it in the way she held herself, the way she dug her fingernails into her palms.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “I don’t want to talk about it.” Isis’s tone was short, and her words were clipped. “Please. Don’t make me talk about it outside.”

  Jere respected her wishes, grateful that she could ask him for this instead of throwing a fit like she used to. They walked back to the host’s house in silence, and he gave her some time once they arrived to calm herself.

  After a while, she came and looked at Jere desperately. “Let’s just go. Please, Jere, let’s leave town tonight. We can go to the speed train station, get an overnight train, or wait until morning. I don’t fucking care, let’s just leave. I want to go home, Jere.”

  As many times as Isis had caught him off-guard, this was unexpected. “Isis, we’ve got tickets booked already. I’d really like to attend this event your parents mentioned—it would do a lot to show how serious I am about this healthcare issue. Besides, don’t you want to see your parents again?”

  She started sobbing at the mention of her parents. Jere began to guess at what was wrong. He was still surprised when he heard her next request, almost inaudible through the panic.

  “Please don’t leave me here.”

  “I’ve put up with you this long, do you really think I’d leave you here now?”

  “You will. You’re gonna go spend more time with them at this stupid thing, and then you’re going to tell me I should stay with them, but I can’t!”

  “What are you talking about?” Jere asked, confused. “The ‘stupid thing’ is so you can spend more time with them and so I can send a message to people in Hojer. I’m doing this for you and to prove a point.”

  “You brought me here so you could get rid of me! You wouldn’t sell me to anyone else, but you’ll sell me to my parents, or you’ll fucking give me to them, and I don’t want to stay with them!” Isis finally looked up at him. “All I’ve ever wanted was to see them again, to go back home, but this isn’t home anymore! And I’m not going to that event. I’m sorry I made you come all the way here just to take me back, but please, Jere, please don’t leave me here! I can’t do it!”

  Jere was struck by the panic in the girl’s voice. “Isis, when I leave, I’m taking you with me, and nobody is going to convince me otherwise. Me and Kieran and Wren—we set this up because we care about you. We thought this was something you wanted. Nobody is trying to get rid of you. I need you around the clinic, and I need you to go to this event with me.”

  “I’ll fuck up if we go out in public. Go without me. Tell my parents you sent me home already.”

  “They know as well as you do that it doesn’t work that way. And I’m confident that you will do just fine. You’ve been perfect during this whole visit.”

  “No.”

  Jere didn’t bother to ask, he just waited for her explanation. She glared at him for a few minutes before speaking again.

  “I can’t see my parents again and tell them that I don’t love them enough to stay with them.”

  “It’s not that you don’t love them—”

  “I shouldn’t want to keep being your slave when I could just be my parents’ daughter again. What’s wrong with me? I’m a slave, not a real person anymore. I can’t love anybody, and I can’t ever be normal!”

  “Just because you don’t want to stay with them doesn’t mean that you don’t love them.” Jere thought it was quite logical of her to want to return to Hojer; as far as he was concerned, she wouldn’t be very safe with them. While they were pretending to be legitimate business owners, a close examination of their history would reveal the family connection, placing them and Isis at risk. “You’re capable of love, but you’re also capable of making decisions that are right for you. You don’t have to live with them to prove that you love them, or that they matter to you.”

  Isis was silent for a few moments, calming slightly. Finally, she looked at Jere. “Before I met you, it wasn’t just that I was miserable, I really didn’t have a purpose. If I go back with my parents, that will be true again! I’m sixteen fucking years old, Jere, what am I supposed to do? Go to school? Listen to spoiled kids talk about their first kiss and going out on their own when I’ve already had everything done to me, and been on my own for longer than I haven’t? I can’t do it. I’d be miserable.”

  “I’m not asking you to do that,” Jere reminded her. “I’m asking you to attend an event with me and see your parents again.”

  “I have a purpose with you; I have work, and you and Wren don’t pity me or think there’s something wrong with me. You know the most terrible parts, and it’s still okay. How could I even start to tell them about it? What am I supposed to say the first time my mom sees the fucking scars all over me? I can’t. I’ve spent so long wishing for them to find me, like that would make it better, but it’s worse. I just want to pretend none of this ever happened.”

  Jere let the words sink in, the happiness with their home in Hojer, the fears and hopes and dreams that had been crushed. “It did happen. It’s still happening. There are so many things I can never get back for you, but this was something that I could. And I need a favor from you in return. You can say goodbye tomorrow and never talk to them again if that’s what you really want, although I doubt that’s the case. You can keep in contact with them on your terms.”

  “After I go to your stupid event, right?” Isis snapped. A moment later, her anger was replaced by obvious terror again. “I can’t see the look on my mom’s face when I tell her I don’t want to stay with her. Tell them I died or that you locked me up or something. Go to the event by yourself. Just take me home and I won’t complain about anything ever again. I’ll do anything. I’ll find a way to pay for the tickets, I’ll—”

  “Isis, you know that’s not what it’s about. Your parents deserve to see you, and I want to take them up on their offer. This is a perfect opportunity.”

  Isis glared at him. “Then you’ll have to beat me unconscious and drag me there, because I won’t go willingly!”

  Jere sighed, letting his head drop down. This was supposed to be something good for her, and he couldn’t tell if he was making it better or worse. But he knew she was capable of thinking of people other than herself when she wasn’t overwhelmed with fear. “Is
is, do you really think I’d do that?”

  “Don’t care!”

  Jere chose his words carefully. “I’m not dragging you anywhere. And I will completely support your decision to stay with me in Hojer. I’ll help you explain it to your parents if you want me to. But we’re not leaving. And I need you to go to this event with me.”

  “What’s gonna happen there?” Isis asked, giving him a suspicious look, but not refusing.

  “I’m going to put the word out to other states that Arona has done a terrible job treating its slave population and make it clear just how bad it will be if unqualified healers try to address the new diseases. I’m going to try and get our damn clinic open again and make it clear that I can move to another state and leave Hojer unattended if things get bad. I’ll keep you right next to me, the whole time, and if anyone so much as looks at you wrong, I’ll make one of their eyeballs explode.”

  Isis smiled a little at the last part. “I really don’t want to go, Jere.”

  “I know.”

  “I guess since you never ask me to do things I don’t want to, I kind of have to when you do ask?”

  Jere just smiled. He wasn’t above playing on her guilt.

  “Am I being selfish? For not wanting to stay with them?”

  “You’re doing what’s best for you. And if your parents are half the people you’ve made them out to be, they’ll agree.”

  Isis nodded, not looking completely convinced. “Thank you. For all the nice stuff you do for me. I won’t do anything bad at the event tomorrow.”

  “I know,” Jere said. “I trust you. Now, do you think we can get some sleep?”

  Isis nodded and they went their separate ways. Jere lay there for a while, wishing he was home. This was the part where he was supposed to talk to Wren, so Wren could explain it and kiss away his doubts. Instead, Jere rolled up a spare blanket and wrapped his arms around it, wondering what he was going to talk about tomorrow.

  Chapter 22

  Repairs

  Wren felt his heart pounding, half from fear, and half from the arousal that was being forced upon him. The gift to manipulate someone’s sexual arousal was dangerous, horrifying, and one of the many mind gifts that qualified someone to be a free person.

  One of his assailants had moved in close enough to touch, dragging his hand along the stiff length of Wren’s cock. Wren wanted so badly to burn them all, but his humiliation and suffering seemed a fair enough price to pay for his long-term safety. He gasped and tried to twist out of their grip, but the psychic hold that suspended him in air was far too strong. He felt one of them moving behind him, and he knew that he would feel the pain of one more.

  As Wren waited, tense, he heard another voice adding to the mix.

  “Avery Waters and Preston Lorelle,” the voice called from a distance, sounding almost friendly. “If you’d like to keep your jobs at Wysocka Enterprises, I’d suggest you get your asses back to work.”

  Wren dared to open an eye, shocked to see Paltrek standing in front of him, looking regal despite the fact that he had obviously slept in the outfit he had worn the night before. Dane stood silently next to him. Wren’s jaw dropped, just a little, and a moment later he crashed to the ground. To his relief, the arousal dropped just as quickly, and Wren felt his body coming back under his control.

  “We don’t even work today,” one of the attackers mumbled. Either Avery or Preston, Wren assumed.

  “Unless you’d like that to be a permanent arrangement, I’d be heading home,” Paltrek announced, arrogant as ever. “My family doesn’t like to employ criminals, and you’re about to damage someone else’s property, someone who I happen to be friends with.”

  “Fuck this, I’m out of here,” one muttered, quickly followed by the other.

  Wren watched in amazement as Paltrek stared down the other two. “I don’t know who you are, but I promise you, I will find out. My family owns half this town—chances are, you work for me, or maybe we hold the loan on your house, or maybe we make investments if you’re well-off, which I doubt by your poor choice of clothing and midday activity. Why don’t you move along before I make some arrangements?”

  The last two attackers scowled, but took off quickly. Wren was left curled on the ground, uncertain of how to proceed.

  Paltrek waited a moment before taking a few steps over to Wren and offering him a hand. Wren flinched away at first, but took it cautiously, rising to his feet and doing his best to replace and straighten his clothes.

  “Did they hurt you?” Paltrek asked, his tone gruff.

  “No, sir,” Wren said, trembling. “Because you were here. Thank you so much.”

  Paltrek shrugged. “You’re lucky. If I hadn’t been passed out in that house over there last night, I wouldn’t have come across you.”

  “Yes, sir,” Wren replied, still shaken. He still couldn’t believe Paltrek had shown up.

  “Lucky it’s a small town. Only a few routes to take when you want to avoid being seen.”

  “Yes, sir,” Wren agreed.

  “Thought Jeremy would have taken you with him,” Paltrek mused.

  “He couldn’t, sir. He had to take Isis.”

  Paltrek just nodded. As far as Wren knew, Jere hadn’t shared the plan to reunite Isis and her parents with anyone else. While it made little sense that Jere would bring Isis along instead of Wren, Paltrek wasn’t one to question Jere.

  “Who the hell did he leave you with, and why they hell wasn’t that person here instead of me?”

  “Kieran, sir,” Wren mumbled. “She didn’t know. We didn’t even think... I just came out to get a few things.”

  Dane was already picking up the spilled purchases without a word.

  “Fucking idiot,” Paltrek snapped, leaving Wren uncertain who he was referring to: Wren, Jere, or Kieran. “Let me guess, no mind connection?”

  Wren just shook his head, feeling stupid. He should have known better. It was never truly safe for slaves to be out alone, and with the press release that Jere had dropped on the town just before he left, things were even more tense than usual. He shouldn’t have left the house, especially not after Jere left town.

  “Want one?” Paltrek offered. “A mind connection. I won’t do anything weird with it; I’m not that good with the damn things anyway.”

  Wren looked up at him suspiciously. It would keep him safer, but he couldn’t bear the thought of having Paltrek inside his head. More importantly, he didn’t know how he could keep tamping down his firesetting gift for so long. Already, it felt like it was trying to tear his way through his skin, burning him up from the inside. “No, thank you, sir.”

  Paltrek shook his head. “Don’t leave the house without one again,” he ordered. “You’ll end up dead. Or worse.”

  “Yes, sir,” Wren agreed, taking his things from Dane.

  “Come on, I’ll walk you home.”

  Wren just wanted to speed home and pretend nothing ever happened. “It’s fine, sir. I don’t need—”

  “That was an order, not a fucking invitation,” Paltrek snapped. “Come on. Jeremy’s helped me out plenty; the least I can do is get your ass home safe.”

  From anyone else, the sharp orders would have been intimidating. From Paltrek, they seemed overdone, like he was trying not to seem worried. After all, the intimidating heir to a wealthy slaveowning family wouldn’t rightfully be so concerned about a slave.

  True to his word, Paltrek walked Wren home, not just to the house, but right to the door and inside. Kieran came to greet them, looking surprised to see Paltrek.

  “Are you a fucking idiot?” Paltrek demanded, not bothering to say hello.

  “Why are you here?” Kieran asked, glancing from him to Wren. Her eyes widened, and Wren felt the probe of her empath gift. “What happened to you?”

  “He got jumped because Jeremy pissed some people off, and he had no way to defend himself because someone didn’t bother to establish a mind connection with him before sending him out alone,” Pa
ltrek cut in before Wren could speak a word. “You have a responsibility, to him and to Jeremy. Don’t accept temporary ownership if you’re not gonna do it right!”

  “I, I won’t,” Kieran stammered.

  “Good!” Paltrek snapped. He nodded at Dane, who turned to leave. “I see him out alone again and I’ll have a mind connection with him. The two of you can figure out how to explain to Jeremy why I’m in his boyfriend’s head.”

  “Thanks again,” Wren said, the words falling silent as the door slammed.

  Kieran stared at Wren in horror. “I am so, so sorry,” she said. “Wren, I never thought—”

  “I’m fine,” Wren lied. “They didn’t hurt me.”

  “They terrified you,” Kieran stated the obvious. “And if Paltrek hadn’t been there—”

  “I’d rather not think of that.”

  Kieran went silent for a moment. “I should have gone with you. I know you do it all the time, but this clinic shutdown, and that press release—I’m the one who encouraged him to put that out! I incited this. I just didn’t think... it was just a short trip!”

  Wren nodded. “I need to go shower and change clothes. I’m fine, though, really.”

  He was lying, and he knew Kieran was letting him lie about it. He went the bedroom that he and Jere shared, ripping his clothes off and flinging them away, the angry tears that he had been holding back spilling out. It had been so long since he had been so afraid, so helpless. He had grown used to Jere protecting him that he had forgotten how to protect himself. Not with his gifts, but as a slave—avoiding empty sidewalks, moving quickly, begging effectively... things he never should have had to do in the first place. The rage built as he thought about his enslavement, pushing against the firesetting gift he had held back so hard, and he felt it erupting. He picked up the clothes, intending to throw them away, and a second later they ignited. He stood there, watching them burn, even as they were clenched in his fists. They played with fire often enough that they had dispensed with the smoke detectors, which was good, because thick smoke filled the room. A few seconds later, he heard Kieran knocking.